A Future Forsaken
by Emily Jennings
Summary: Max left in Departure with Tess, who didn’t kill Alex. 20 years later & Antar & Earth have formed an alliance & ‘aliens’ are a thing of the past. Can Max & Liz truly forsake their love now that the ultimate boundary has been deminished? R
1. Default Chapter

Echoes of a Future Forsaken

By Emily Jennings  
  
Max left in 'Departure' with Isabel & Tess, who didn't kill Alex. 20 years later & the world has changed. Antar & Earth have formed an alliance & 'aliens' are a thing of faerie tales. Can Max & Liz truly forsake their love now that the ultimate boundary has been diminished?  
  
Author's note: Hi! This is really only going to be a short story (three or four chapters at best) in a desperate attempt to overcome my sever writers block so I can continue working on Before. Tell what you think. x  
  
----  
  
Her footsteps echoed in the empty room, the heel of her elegant stilettos leaving small circular imprints in the layer of dust which had nestled into the wooden floorboards .She breathed in deeply and closed her eyes when she reached the veranda doors, and leaned against the railing of the wrap- around porch, sheltered away from the gentle rain that fell.  
  
She let the silken shawl that covered her shoulders drop carelessly to the ground and lie discarded on the floor, placing fine, manicured fingers on the rough surface of the untreated wood of the banister-top.  
  
The wind howled and sniped at lose strands of her rich, chocolate colour hair as was its nature this close to the coast, but to her it was a caressing breeze that offered secret promises and whispered to her soul.  
  
Her eyes snapped open in alarm. No! Block them out! Ignore the promises, brush away the whispers! They are not for you; it is not your destiny!  
  
She sighed and attempted to relax her suddenly tense shoulders. Her eyes turned weary and unfathomable. She had the eyes of an old soul They always told her. When she heard that she always struggled to keep the bitterness out of her laugh. They always seemed politely puzzled, but of course They would, They simply would never be able to comprehend the sheer irony.  
  
She gazed longingly out at the turbulent ocean and watched the waves ebb and flow and foam on the sand. She imagined being a part of that current and travelling around the earth with the single minded aim of simply being. What must that be like? To simply be, oblivious, except to the pull of the Moon?  
  
She did not know, nor would she ever know.  
  
She ran her tongue against her bottom lip and tasted the salt in the air; she tasted the salt and wished that she could stay on the porch forever, stay and live within the echoes of the house.  
  
She knew that to others this house seemed outdated and unsafe. Its windswept wooden structure balanced precariously on equally windswept stilts, in a vague attempt to protect it from the relentless ocean.  
  
She knew differently.  
  
She could feel the sturdy foundations beneath her, felt their energy and power and knew that this windswept little home would be there for many years to come, perhaps even after she was gone.  
  
She sighed at her torturous reflections and turned back into the veranda doors. She could see clearly the path that she had taken across the room, the fresh shoe prints glistening tellingly against the veil of dust. It would seem an odd path to take across such a large room.  
  
She thought of how it would have looked to the casual observer. A petite brunette woman in an elegant black evening gown and stilettos walking deliberately close to the wall, with her eyes diverted to her feet, carefully avoiding the sight of the venerable Grande piano at the room's centre, although she could feel its presence like her own heartbeat.  
  
She sighed and felt the beginnings of a headache approaching.  
  
Now she looked purposefully at the piano and felt the familiar ache she always felt when she came to this room. Her fingers tingled and she moved her hand involuntarily in the direction of the instrument. She hesitated for a moment only before she moved further into the room and stood by the piano. She had known it would come to this.  
  
She ran her fingers along the top and moved around to sit on the playing stool. Each hand lay limply on a respective thigh until her fingers itched painfully. She hovered her right hand over the keys but had to dare herself before she touched the keys.  
  
Her mind sing-songed scornfully over the words: I dare you, I dare you, and her index finger pushed tentatively at the cool ivory key, reverberating middle-c around the room. She gasped and stood up abruptly, knocking the stool from beneath her with a hard thud.  
  
Her vision spotted with odd yellow blots, floating in and out of her eyesight and suddenly her breathing was shallow. Her hands rose up and touched her face, and felt its sudden clamminess.  
  
_Odd_. A rational part of her brain mused, _How you can feel both hot and cold at the same time, and both completely present and detached from your body all at once._  
  
She spun round towards the exit but her movements were too fast and her brain to slow. She felt woozy and physically ill, her head throbbed maliciously and her limbs felt deadweight. _Help!  
_  
She was outside, had she walked? She knew she had and she knew she couldn't any longer.  
  
Her legs buckled beneath her and she fell ungraciously to the ground, bury her fingers deep into the sand, as though to anchor herself. She took no heed of what the damp, gritty substance do to her dress, instead she concerned herself with throwing up the entire contents of her stomach.  
  
She felt better. Light headed and aching but now she felt a little better.  
  
She sat on the steps of the house and leaned her head back. The rain had settled to a refreshing drizzle and she breathed the air in gratefully.  
  
The images had come so hard and fast, their impact acting like a physical force.  
  
He had been their, in that house, and he had played middle-c.  
  
Liz Parker allowed the tears to slide down her face. She did not understand. How could he possibly have been there? This house meant nothing to him. Just an old holiday home, abandoned, but for the piano. Why would her come? Unless ... he knew.  
  
But that was impossible. He couldn't know. No one could. Except her. So therefore he could not have been there.  
  
Except she knew he had. Max Evans, King Zan, or whatever else he was now called, had been there, in that room, and he had played middle-c.  
  
----  
  
T.B.C.  
  
Please read & review. x


	2. Chapter Two

A Future Forsaken  
  
By Emily Jennings  
  
Max left in Departure with Isabel & Tess, who didn't kill Alex. 20 years later & the world has changed. Antar & Earth have formed an alliance & 'aliens' are a thing of faerie tales. Can Max & Liz truly forsake their love now that the ultimate boundary has been diminished?  
  
Author's note: Second chapter up! It might be a little confusing but hopefully any ambiguities will be explained in subsequent chapters. I hope you like it, tell me what you think.  
  
----  
  
'Mommy! Suzie Lewis' parents are taking her to Antar this year. Can we go to Antar Momma? Can we?'  
  
Elizabeth Parker held a thin cotton summer dress to herself and surveyed her reflection in the mirror critically. She put the dress back on the rack, 'No sweetie, you know how busy Daddy is at the moment.'  
  
The little blonde girl pouted and crossed her arms, sulking, 'It's not _fair_! Suzie Lewis has been three times already and she says it's the best place ever! She says her parents are going to move there next summer. Momma! They're going to _move_ there!'  
  
Liz patted her daughter good naturedly on the head and moved towards the store exit. 'Well that's up to Suzie's mommy and daddy, isn't it?' she said dismissively, motioning for the security guard to bring the car round.  
  
'I HATE YOU!' the little girl screamed, glaring at her mother. The entire store went quiet and people turned to stare.  
  
Liz froze and turned towards her daughter in shock and disbelief. '_Claudine!_' she hissed, after a moments pause, 'This is neither the time nor the place.'  
  
Her eight-year-old looked at her in contempt, 'I _hate_ you' she repeated passionately, simply and directly. 'You never want to do any of the things I want to do, and I hate you for it' she said. 'My teacher says you're a founder of history but you're just selfish. You did all those things when you lived with Grandma and Grandpa, with the Royal Four, but you act like you never. You want to keep all the fun for yourself and let me have none!'  
  
Her large brown eyes were wide and brimming with unshed tears and her voice was thick with emotion. Her bottom lip quivered dangerously and suddenly she sat abruptly on the ground, sobbing and looking at her hands, no doubt angry at herself for crying.  
  
Liz knew that this was where her maternal feelings were meant to kick in, but right at that moment she could not summon up the compassion to comfort her distraught daughter. She looked at the little crying figure and what she saw was a monster, a parasite. Something that constantly fed off her, drained her energy, took, took, took, but never gave.  
  
Liz squared her shoulders and turned from her daughter. There was a murmuring from the other watching customers. 'Claudine! Get up!' she ordered coldly. There was a gasp from a woman near by, no doubt a mother herself, of shock.  
  
Claudine's head flew up, her tears abruptly stopped from her own disbelief of her mother's actions. She rose, feeling small and scared, and began to walk out the shop, where she could she the car was waiting.  
  
When Claudine passed her Liz followed, ignoring the stares she got, and stepped into the car. 'Let's go home' she told her head of security and leaned back, disregarding her daughter's anxious looks.  
  
Vaguely she was aware that she had become the monster, that the girl at her side was just a little girl, and that somewhere in the past twenty years she had become everything she had always despised.  
  
She sighed and leaned back into the leather upholstery of the car and then made a quick decision. 'Stop the car here and let me get out.' The driver shot her a glance in the rear-view mirror but began to pull over immediately. She got out of the car, 'Take Claudine home, I'll call if I need collecting.'  
  
Tony, her head of security, looked as though he was about to argue but hesitated and thought better of it. He nodded and handed Liz a mobile phone, a flickering of understanding passed between them. He had always understood.  
  
She watched as the car pulled away and thought absently that she should have said a few words to Claudine directly so the girl wouldn't be upset, but it was too late now.  
  
She turned down the nearest street, not knowing where she was or where she was going. She did not even know why she had gotten out of the car ...  
  
----  
  
'What now, Tess?' he spoke tiredly, quietly.  
  
The blonde opened her mouth as though to say something and the King threw his hand up in a hasty refusal, 'Do _not_ say it! Don't even _think_ about _saying _it!'  
  
She gave him a withering glare and continued anyway, 'My _name_, is --'  
  
He growled in frustration and threw down the pen he had been holding, 'I am not! ...' he said, his irritability making his voice rise and agitation show clearly on his face, '... going to call you Ava!'  
  
'Well you damn well should _Zan_!' she glowered patronisingly. 'It's my name for Gods' sake!'  
  
He threw the chair back forcefully and stood, walking around the desk and towering threateningly over his wife, 'Why don't you just fuc --'  
  
Max stopped abruptly and closed his eyes in despair. 'Vilandra' he whispered quietly and turned towards his little daughter huddled discreetly behind a large grandfather clock. A petite four-year-old child with large, long lashed cornflower blue eyes and long, fine brown hair unfolded herself from her hiding position and removed her thumb from her mouth to implore a hug off her father.  
  
He swung her up and into his arms, burying his head in her hair. It broke his heart that she had heard a second of that. He hugged her tightly and for a moment he was someplace else, with someone else, and for that he was ashamed.  
  
He pulled away and looked into his little girl's big, honest eyes. He smiled, 'Your hair is so long and beautiful now, just like Repunzle.' Vilandra smiled and traced her father's brow gently, filling him with warmth and understanding.  
  
_Thank you_ he uttered to her telepathically. Her smile broadened and she hugged him again.  
  
'Don't fill her head with that crap!' Tess spat maliciously, referring to his reference to Repunzle. 'She's not a human child Max! Her place is on _Antar_ with _Antarian_ faerie tales!' She hated the bond between her husband and her daughter, hated that she could not have that kind of love.  
  
Max sighed and turned to his wife, reviewing her coldly. 'Not now Tess, not in front of Vilandra'  
  
Tess stayed perfectly still for a moment and then said, with abject coldness, 'She poisoned your mind Zan. You are in the wrong. You are the one that will not let this family work ....' She turned on her heel and paused and the entrance of the room, glancing back at her King, 'And that little girl will never be anything like_ her_,_ I_ will make sure of that!' She walked out of the door.  
  
Max sighed. Tess was right. Liz had made it impossible for him to love anybody else that wasn't Liz, and of course it was because of this that he could not make things with Tess work. Maybe, if he could sever all tie, he could move on, give up. But now? No. Now, she was attainable. He had already betrayed his family. Gone to Earth and had ... seen. Seen his future, or his past future, and how things could have been.  
  
He sighed again and was aware of the little girl in his arms. Vilandra. Tess had been right about her too. Max saw Liz in her. Saw hope and life and happiness. And he did not doubt that Tess would do anything she could to destroy it.  
  
It was not Tess' fault. She was in many senses a victim. She simply could not compete with perfection, with Liz.  
  
Max stood, holding his little girl, and remembered a small windswept costal home with a piano and playing middle-c ...  
  
----  
  
T.B.C.  
  
Please read & review 


	3. Chapter Three

A Future Forsaken  
  
By Emily Jennings  
  
Max left in Departure with Isabel & Tess, who didn't kill Alex. 20 years later & the world has changed. Antar & Earth have formed an alliance & 'aliens' are a thing of faerie tales. Can Max & Liz truly forsake their love now that the ultimate boundary has been diminished?  
  
Author's note: Thank you for all your kind reviews, they're much appreciated. This story isn't really helping me with my writers' block in regard to my other story so I'm considering discontinuing it. I haven't decided yet though, so here's another chapter while I do decide.  
  
----  
  
The three-year-old black Labrador barks jovially and chases the receding waves out to sea, snapping playfully at the ebbing foam. The lean young dog skids to an abrupt halt and makes a hasty retreat, turning hurriedly in surprise and almost tripping over his forepaws in excitement as he dashes back to shore, the waves following closely behind.  
  
He continues running even after the waves had retreated, continuing on their journey. Spraying sand and salty water over his gleaming dark coat as he runs, the dog's tongue lolls out in a picture of unabated happiness.  
  
Claudia Vilandra Parker-Evans laughs and twirls delightedly, feeling completely as one with the earth and the sea and the air. Her long chestnut coloured hair fans around her as she spins to the gentle musical rhymes of the elements, feeling distinctly witchy and untouchable. Her large hazel eyes twinkle mischievously as she waves her mother's cotton shawl above her, upturning her head so she can watch the wind catch beneath it and inflate it like a kite or the sail of a ship.  
  
She stops dead in her tracks and turns her head towards the house, listening intently. The dog, a few yards away, who has been chasing his tail determinedly, now stops and sniffs the air searchingly. Nothing from the house can be heard or smelt this close to the sea but after only a moment the dog gives two short distinct barks of confirmation and gallops towards it.  
  
That is all Claudia needs to know to know that her father has arrived home. She drops the shawl heedlessly at her feet and raises her hand to her mouth, uttering her own version of a Native American war cry before speeding off after her pet. She stoops momentarily to sweep up a gull's feather, sticking it wantonly into her hair.  
  
She takes the steps up to the wrap-around porch two at a time and bursts through the door. She stops just before the door of the music room and leans casually on the door frame, moderating her breathing to conceal her sprint to the house. She peers into the room and rolls her eyes, her parents are locked in a passionate embrace, lost to the world for the next five minutes she knows.  
  
Finally she clears her throat to let them know she's there and they break apart bashfully.  
  
'Hay Kido' her father says, smiling wryly and holding out his arms, to which she gladly runs.  
  
'Hi Daddy' she greets fondly, 'I've been playing at being a witch today'  
  
'A witch?!' he asks in exaggerated surprise. 'It looks like Pocahontas to me!' he exclaims, tweaking her nose fondly and motioning to the gull's feather.  
  
She nods reasonably, 'That next'  
  
Claudia turns to her smiling mother whose chocolate coloured hair is always shiny and who is always so very beautiful but who seems especially so when her father is around, and grins impishly, 'Trouble was fighting the waves again today' she says, speaking of the dog and giggling.  
  
Her mother nods and strokes her hair affectionately, 'I could see from the veranda' she confirms, taking the feather from her daughter's hair. 'I thought you looked very witchy and Trouble looked very silly.'  
  
The girl laughs and nods then turns to her father and asks, 'Daddy, will you tell me the story of Repunzle again tonight?'  
  
Her father nods and says he will …  
  
----  
  
…. Gasping for air Liz opened her eyes and let the tears fall down her face.  
  
This world was a cruel one. It should not be possible to see the things she saw. That future had been lost to her over twenty years before, when a man, Max, walked through her bedroom room in Roswell and put the responsibility of the world on her shoulders – literally.  
  
And yet it haunted her … She knew it was real, or it once was, that she is not just fabricating a dream, that she had had that happiness, that life, that family.  
  
She glanced around the alley in a daze of confusion, which was quickly replaced by a potent anger and she shot her hand out, aiming at discarded aluminium can on the floor. There was a cracking sound, like lightning, as green energy streamed from her outstretched hand and hit the can squarely at its centre, burning a neat round hole clean through it and leaving a blackened scorch mark on the ground.  
  
She smiled a self-satisfied, bitter smile and put her hand down, pulling it into a fist. Elizabeth Parker wasn't all she seemed after all, she mused resentfully, thinking of her husband and child. The trophy mother and wife perhaps, but there was a part of her she kept secret. It was the part of her that her husband could never touch or sedate, the part of her that was Max's and would always be so.  
  
----  
  
Max had not known that it had been possible but two months ago his only real close friend and his advisor, Serana, had come into his study looking pale and anxious and told him that he had a message …. from within the granolith.  
  
That's impossible, he had said, but followed her to the holding chamber anyway. She had stopped just outside the door, wringing her hands nervously, 'There's one other thing ….' she had said. 'The message …. It's from you.'  
  
He had frowned and paused, 'From the time before?'  
  
'No, this …' she hesitated, 'is something … Other'  
  
He did not know then that what he would hear and see would change his life forever … and restore the one thing he had given up on.  
  
Hope.  
  
…  
  
T.B.C.  
  
Please read and review. x 


	4. Chapter Four

A Future Forsaken

By Emily Jennings

Max left in Departure with Isabel & Tess, who didn't kill Alex. 20 years later & the world has changed. Antar & Earth have formed an alliance & 'aliens' are a thing of faerie tales. Can Max & Liz truly forsake their love now that the ultimate boundary has been diminished?

Author's note: Hay guys, I guess I should continue sine you've all been super nice with your reviews and stuff! Well, this is the forth chapter which means that this will end up being the longest shot fic ever!

**Remember that this chapter is merely a flashback of what has already occurred! **

Once again, thanks for all of your support and I hope you enjoy. x

----

Max glanced at the markings blankly and finally asked, 'So what am I looking at?' It looked like Antarian, but like nothing that he understood. He remembered feeling this same sense of frustration over twenty years ago when he had first seen the destiny book.

Serena's gaze flickered to her King and then back to the engravings, 'You don't recognize it?'

Max shook his head no.

'It's old Antarian'

Max nodded. Just like the destiny book. He paused, frowning. 'Hang on a moment ... The this message _is_ from before. If I wrote it and it's old Antarian then it must be.'

'No. No, you see that's why it's so ...' she floundered for the correct word, 'odd.'

He frowned again, 'I don't' understand, explain it to me. How do you know it's from me? How _can_ it be from me?'

Serena was giving a series of short nods, 'Okay, I will, just ... bear with me, it's complex.'

Her manner turned immediately brisk and Max knew she was preparing herself, her mind turning to logic; science; the bare facts.

_His_ mind immediately turned to a seventeen-year-old brunette girl, her head bent over a microscope, long hair partially obscuring her beautiful features, biting gently at her bottom lip in mute concentration. _Liz, _his mind breathed. In his mind she looked up and gave him one of her winning smiles, which captured his heart and spoke to his soul.

'Max?!'

His vision cleared and Serena was looking at him with a worried frown on her face.

'Are you okay?' she asked. 'You've been more distracted then usual recently.'

He nodded, 'Sorry, go on, this is important.'

She gave him a last searching look and, satisfied that she now had his full attention, turned her mind to the matter at hand.

'Well, like I said, it's old Antarian, but even I had trouble reading it. It's a corrupt version. It's messy and poorly done. It also had a lot of other total nonsense inserted randomly into it, which resembles nothing Antarian, old or new, that I've ever read, so I had to filter out a lot ... But now I think I've cracked it!'

She looked at him excitedly, awaiting his response.

'And?'

'Well I don't have much ...' she said, deflating noticeably. 'Well, hardly anything actually' she concluded, the frustration evident in her tone.

Max laid a consoling hand on her shoulder. 'Just tell me what you do have then.' When she didn't seem placated he continued, 'Serena, there's no one better than you at this kind of thing. You've done more than what anyone else could have done.'

Serena smiled and nodded, accepting his compliment gratefully. She turned back to the engraving, 'Well the first thing I got was the date.'

She glanced at him, 'Which isn't so unusual, everyone date their messages ... except, of course, the person who dated it isn't Antarian, or at least that's what I thought at first.'

Max's interest doubled, 'Not Antarian?!' He leaned over the engraving as if this new piece of information might suddenly enable him to decipher the unfamiliar symbols.

'No' Serena confirmed.

'How did you know?!'

'Well I didn't, I was mistaken wasn't I?' she reminded matter-of-factly.

Max flapped his hands in impatient dismissal, 'I mean, what made you think it wasn't written by an Antarian?'

'Because we track time via events'

'So ...?'

'Well like I said, if I was dating a message from nine years ago I would have dated it in the _twelfth_ year of your return. This message was dated in the year '2014', in accordance with Earth's Christ.'

'2014?' he puzzled.

Serena nodded. 'Which lead me to the obvious conclusion that the message was of human origin.'

She paused at the obvious oxymoron. 'You can imagine my confusion. I didn't understand how it could be_ possible_ that a human had written and hidden a message within the granolith at that, or any other, time. It would be a feat for any Antarian to achieve!'

They both turned their heads to the centre of the circular room and surveyed the revered instrument, currently submerged in a light-blue, viscous, medicinal-like, protection fluid.

Serena was torn between her Antarian nature; which viewed, with a fascinated awe, the object that had brought her King home and restored hope and peace to her planet, and her scientific nature; which looked quizzically at the object, trying to guess it's nature and solve the mystery of how it came to exist in its current advanced form, given that they did not have, nor had ever, the technical knowledge to create such a powerful and complex instrument.

Max merely looked upon it with a bitter resentment, blame it for his life's miseries over the past twenty years.

He shook himself from his reverie and considered again the odd engraving.

Serena sighed and continued, 'I was confused. _Really_ confused. And then I got an answer .... of sorts, but it just rose more complex questions.'

Max nodded, 'I can imagine. You found out the message was supposed to be from me.' he filled in.

'Yeah, but that was even more ... impossible. Nine years ago you had only just overthrown Kivar. The granolith wasn't even on this planet.'

'No' he confirmed, 'Larek had it, for safe keeping, it was too dangerous a weapon if Kivar got hold of it.' He paused, 'It could have been forger there, I guess' he continued doubtfully.

Serena shook her head in an immediate negative. 'You know Larek wouldn't let that happen. Only he knew where it was and no one else but him could get to it. Besides, even if they could they wouldn't have the human knowledge to date it in this manner.'

'Larek would have the knowledge, he's been around humans'

'But you know he wouldn't do such a thing! And it was so well concealed and embedded within the Granolith that he would have had to have not only precise technical knowledge but an intimate understanding of the granolith itself ... But even if he could somehow get past all that, even if he would do it, there is one thing which makes this message one hundred percent genuine --'

Max looked at her expectantly and motioned for her to go on.

'_You_ Max! Your ...' she hesitated over the word '... your signature'

Ma looked at the ring on his hand. It was heavy platinum with a deep purple stone inset, which shimmered with an inner light. That light was him; his essence; the part of him that was more himself than any other part of him. A small amount had been extracted before it had been mixed with human DNA to complete the quartet of royal hybrids.

Since that day it had remained hidden and carefully guarded, awaiting his return. If Kivar had found it then it all would have been over. Kivar could have destroyed Max in a second.

The ring gave him what his life as a human had taken away; the memories of his past life.

He remembered that just before the Granolith had taken off of Earth Tess had received a flash of him kissing Liz when they had kissed. She had told him then that when they reached Antar he would forget all about Liz. Max knew that Tess had known about the ring and hope that it would make him forget Liz by restoring the memories of his former life, but it hadn't.

It had just confirmed what max had already known in his heart; that the truest thing he had ever done was love Liz. He had once had a kind of love with Tess – Ava – but in Liz he had found his soul mate, and the ring, the purest part of himself that he had, whispered it to him everyday.

----

T.B.C.

... I admit it was a little crule to leave it there without telling you what the message was but hay, it gives you an incentive to review and tell me what you think! – Hehee. x


	5. Chapter Five

**A Future Forsaken**

**By Emily Jennings**

**Summery**: Max left in Departure with Isabel & Tess, who didn't kill Alex. 20 years later & the world has changed. Antar & Earth have formed an alliance & 'aliens' are a thing of faerie tales. Can Max & Liz truly forsake their love now that the ultimate boundary has been diminished?

**Author's note**: Hay there! Ummm ... couple of people wanted to know when the other characters would be introduced in the story. Well, they're all doing they're own thang, and I'm sure they'll make an appearance but I don't have big plans for them. Would you guys wanna know what's going on with them?

Also, once again this is a flash back chapter and these events have already occurred. Sorry, there's a lot of back history that needs to be explained and this is the only way to do it. The subsequent chapter will be another flash-back Max-focusy one too. I know it's tedious but it'll explain a lot and hopefully you guys will still find it interesting!

Hope you enjoy. X

----

Max sighed and stopped contemplating the ring. 'It's signed then?'

'It appears so, the markings are there but of course you're the only one who could tell for sure.'

Another more practical use for the ring was a form of identity. He could active the ring and leave a unique, invisible imprint on a message or object which couldn't be forged. Usually after such a signing a kind of royal hallmark was left, signifying that the signature had been given.

Serena turned over the hexagonal piece of metal and carefully ran a hand over the small, slight, almost untraceable, design on the back. It certainly looked genuine.

Max cautiously touched the hallmark with his index finger and felt warmth run up his arm. Purple light rippled out from the hallmark and covered the metal hexagon, shimmering delicately. When the metal was fully in cased in the effervescent force Max's ring suddenly flared to life, emitting a strong and steady purple light of its own which caused Serena to cover her eyes.

As quickly as it had happened, the room was suddenly normal again, no traces that the remarkable feat had ever happened, and Max's hand lay limply on the smooth, cool metal.

'Another thing' Serena whispered, full of confusion and awe, 'It was written on earth.'

Max's head shot up, 'That's impossible'

His friend shrugged tiredly, 'But it's true'

Max was confused and because he was confused and he couldn't understand he became irritated and finally ran out of patience, 'So what does it say?! What's the message?'

'I told you I didn't have much Max.' Serena spoke quietly, knowing that Max would be upset. 'The text is so corrupted; if there was anything significant it's not anything that can be read. Although .... I don't know, to me it seems as though this was more of an acknowledgement. You know 'Max was here, 2014''

'_That makes no sense at all!!!_' he exploded. He growled in frustration and paced the room agitatedly. Finally he sighed and looked at his friend, 'Give me everything you have on it. All the tests you've done, notes you've made, everything!'

Serena handed over the file she had compiled and Max gave her a weak smile, 'Thanks Serena'.

Serena nodded and smiled back and watched as her King left the room and stalked off, to know doubt lock himself in his study.

----

Max was getting a head ache. Who was he kidding! He couldn't do this, not even Serena had been able to. He shoved the notes violently off the table and rested his head forlornly on the tabletop.

His mind drifted. Vaguely he wondered how his son was. Zan was twenty-years-old now and the exact double of Max. The boy was now on Earth where Max should have been.

Since an alliance had been established with Earth Tess had made sure that Max had stayed firmly put on Antar, and for the most part Max agreed with her reasoning. He did not trust himself to go and form political ties with the planet when his personal ones were still so strong. He knew from his communication with Michael that things were different there now.

His friends and second-in-command were important figures. If he went over there he would meet Liz and he was not certain that if he did, he would come back.

No. He knew his duty to his wife and children, so he had sent his son instead.

Max pulled himself from his misery and raised his head. Still his eyes were unfocused, his mind in an odd in-between place, so it was a while before he realised what he was seeing.

His gaze had absentmindedly fallen on the scattered papers on the floor and now, his eyes rapidly going into focus, alarm bells of recognition were going off in his head, becoming louder and louder until he finally understood what he was looking at.

He leaped off his chair, knocking it to the floor, and crouched over the papers, roughly pulling the sheets to his face, hands shaking, breath ragged.

Max looked at the markings on the sheet, the so-called nonsense Serena had to extract to decipher the 'message', and laughed at the irony. Serena had effectively ended up removing the most important part of the message ...

What Max was looking at was English.

Each separate letter was submerged amid a torrent of meaningless symbols which Max's Antarian adjusted eyes merely glided over, his mind assuming all the symbols were such and bypassing the English completely.

He grabbed a clean sheet of paper off the desk and began to hurriedly jot down each single letter, meaningless when read singularly but momentous when together.

It took a moment for his eyes to comprehend the words at first, so long had it been sine he had read a word of English, but finally he understood.

_I Shall Believe – ... The truth comes from within._

Max felt as though he had been punched in the stomach, the whole foundation of his existence was crumbling. Nauseated and confused he slumped against the desk.

_Liz_ his mind screamed. She loved that song.

He did not understand. How was this happening? What was its meaning? _The truth comes from within_? He knew he was missing something significant, he just knew it.

How was it possible that nine years ago he had written this message, on Earth, and put it inside the Granolith?

_The truth comes from within_

Was he forgetting something? Was it possible that he had written it and just _couldn't remember_? His mind raced.

If he had been mind-warped to forget something then possibly he wasn't _able_ to remember. But he knew he hadn't been, there were signs that allowed a person to recognise when a mind-warp had taken place.

He thought for a moment. He had learnt a technique on Antar, to retrieve memories suppressed by a mind-warp, it was difficult and energy consuming but maybe, just maybe, it would help him now.

Max pushed away the sheets of paper and shoved roughly at the desk to create a clear space around him.

_Breathe deeply, leave the purely physical behind and picture your destination._

Max didn't have a place or destination to anchor his thoughts, instead he thought back nine years to the year '2014'. He remembered the struggle, the confusion, the deep loneliness. Isabel, Tess and Zan were safely hidden. He was surrounded by strangers who either revered or hated him. He had killed men, wrecked families and destroyed an entire species of people, the Skins.

In the year 2014 he had finally won his throne back ... But at what cost?

All these thoughts swam through his head and he was almost consumed by grief. The battles he had fought, the lives he had taken, the lives that had been lost in his name ... And always alone, always so alone ...

Resentment rose within him. Where had Michael, his friend, his brother, his Second, been? On Earth no doubt, where Max ached to be, living life happily with Maria, seeing Liz everyday, whilst he, Max, fought for his life.

The pain was excruciating.

Max didn't know it but he was weeping; long, hard, soul wrenching sobs. He cried like he hadn't let himself cry in nineteen years.

Pain was Technicolor, surround sound, three dimensional, and it _hurt_.

He howled in torment, beat his fist against the plush carpet, and then, suddenly, it happened.

Something snapped within him, a subtle shift, sudden calm before the storm ... and then the hurricane hit.

----

T.B.C.

-x-


	6. Chapter Six

**A Future Forsaken**

**By Emily Jennings**

**Summery**: Max left in Departure with Isabel & Tess, who didn't kill Alex. 20 years later & the world has changed. Antar & Earth have formed an alliance & 'aliens' are a thing of faerie tales. Can Max & Liz truly forsake their love now that the ultimate boundary has been diminished?

**Author's note**: Hi guys! Thank you so much for your support and reviews, you have no idea how much they mean to me! Finally we can wind down this whole message thing and move on with the story! Phew! 80)

Read, review and enjoy! X

The hologram wobbled to life, cracking uncertainly and fragmenting the precious Technicolor images, causing a static in the room that made the hairs on Max's arms to stand on end.

It was this peculiar sensation of something _other_ that made the King raise his tear stained face from his hands and cast his despairing and confused eyes around the room.

Looking back, Max would later admit that had he been in his proper mind he would have perhaps appreciated this odd stillness, the momentary pause, which marked the transition from the utter misery and grief of his life to the total destruction of it. He may also have acknowledged that some part of his brain, the small, strange part that always managed to stay calm and rational, no matter how _irrational _the rest of his self became, was silently telling him that this was the breakthrough he'd been waiting for and that nothing would ever be the same again.

But he wasn't in his proper mind and none of these things did occur to him.

Max looked around and absently noted the scattered papers and disheveled furniture, seeking the cause of this strangeness. He did not, at first, see the small hexagonal disc, nor the hologram that now played, like a old home video, protruding from the so-called 'corrupted' imprints on the shiny mental. What he first noticed was his ring.

Max was used to the searing white-purple light that shone like a beacon each time he activated the ring, but now it pulsed with a soft consistency, emitting a soft hum, causing the baffled King to stare blankly in incomprehension at it.

The little, rational part of him began to gain ground on his largely irrational self.

Had the exercise worked despite his obvious loss of control? Had he somehow tapped into an unknown power within the ring, and to what purpose?

Suddenly Max heard something that made his entire body convulse ...

... '_I could see from the veranda' _Liz's voice was light and warm, full of love and understanding.

Max spun and noticed the hologram for the first time. Liz looked so beautiful; ethereal and slight, yet still possessing an obvious inner strength and passion. Her eyes still burned with a deep un-relinquishing fire, her complexion was still a picture of utter loveliness.

He watched as she moved forward and suddenly another person stood by her; a child, a little girl with long chestnut hair. Liz played with a feather she'd taken from the girl's hair.

'_I thought you looked very witchy and Trouble looked very silly.'_ she said, obviously amused.

Max choked. Was this Liz's little girl? Could it be that he was somehow seeing the life that Liz had made for herself ... without him?

The small girl chuckled and nodded, flicking her hair back in a manner that was so much like Liz that it could only be her daughter. The girl turned a Liz disappeared from view, another figure entering the frame.

Max reeled back in shock and chocked heavily on the air he laboured to breathe.

He watched himself gaze lovingly down at Liz's daughter.

'_Daddy, will you tell me the story of Repunzle again tonight?'_ the girl asks. He nods and says we will

Daddy?! Max's mind scrambled for an explanation, stumbling and falling each time. _Daddy?!_

His hologram self pulls the child up into his arms and holds her in a tight embrace. Liz moves towards them both, resting her head contentedly on his shoulder.

Suddenly the image flickers and dies but that is not the end ...

The hologram is left running blankly for a moment and then Liz enters the frame once again. But there are differences in this Liz. She has short cut hair and dark rings under her eyes, everything about her is different.

... Except her eyes. It is not that her eyes have remained the same, but that Max can identify them as being eyes that have seen horrors untold, just as his own have.

Liz speaks in a short hurried tone, with a desperation lingering in her voice.

_Max, this is the year 2014 and I'm standing in the Granolith chamber. I have just sent you - the you as I know you - back into our history so that the horrors we have witnessed may be remedied._

She pauses here as a deep grumbling and the sound of screaming subsides. The walls shake and crumble slightly.

_Max, I don't have much time. We are almost defeated. Serena has given her life so that I might have this opportunity._

_Max, it's imperative that you know this. If you are listening to this now then the future has been changed and your former self has managed to make me- or at least, my 18-year-old self – get you to fall out of love with me and make Tess stay. I don't know if your future is better than it is now ..._

She hesitates and tears streak down her face ...

_I know that in your future I will be without you and my heart screams that it must be worse. But my mind knows that any future is better than this one._

She wipes angrily at the tears and continues.

_What you have just seen is a memory of mine. Of our life as it was before this war. We had a daughter named Claudia and we were very happy ... I am going against everything people have advised me but I cannot bare the thought that in some other time you might hate me, as I know hate is the only thing that would overcome our love and therefore you must._

The roof of the chamber collapses and for one awful moment Liz falls and does not rise. Suddenly her figure reemerges. She is cut and bruised and sobbing.

_Max, our daughter and all our friends and family were killed because of our love ...we couldn't let it happen, which is why we take this risk ..._

_I have to go now. I will always love you, in this lifetime and all others ...Goodbye._

The hologram is now lifeless and Max's ring has stopped its steady pulse, the light no longer shining in its depths.

Max cannot think but he knows inherently what he must do ... he will travel to Earth and find the answers he deserves. For him and for Liz and for their little girl, Claudia.

T.B.C.

Please review. x


	7. Chapter Seven

**A Future Forsaken**

**By Emily Jennings**

**Summery**: Max left in Departure with Isabel & Tess, who didn't kill Alex. 20 years later & the world has changed. Antar & Earth have formed an alliance & 'aliens' are a thing of faerie tales. Can Max & Liz truly forsake their love now that the ultimate boundary has been diminished?

**Author's note**: Hay guys! Sorry for the wait! ... So now the whole flashback thing is done and I can continue with the story. This chapter is back with Liz directly from where we left her at the end of chapter three. I hope it isn't too confusing. The timeline is disjointed I know but it should be worth while. Please, please review. Thank you! Enjoy. X

----

**Present day (2023), Earth ...**

_She smiled a self-satisfied, bitter smile and put her hand down, pulling it into a fist. Elizabeth Parker wasn't all she seemed after all, she mused resentfully, thinking of her husband and child. The trophy mother and wife perhaps, but there was a part of her she kept secret. It was the part of her that her husband could never touch or sedate, the part of her that was Max's and would always be so ..._

----

Liz's cell rung and for the first time since she had left the safety of the car she wondered where she was and how long she had been there.

'Answer' she muttered, frowning in the direction of the phone. Immediately she heard the static of the call connecting and mused at the advancement in technology since Earth had opened up communications with Antar.

There was a pause and then small click.

_Your call has been successfully connected, please proceed_ said the smooth voice of the female automated call operator.

'Tony?' Liz queried. Only he held the number to that phone.

'Liz?! Chica?!'

Liz was only vaguely surprised to hear the voice of her best friend answer in place of her burly head-of-security.

'Maria? How did you get this number?'

'Off of Tony, that's how! He was worried about you Liz! We all are!' The vibrations of her voice had reached shrieking pitch and echoed around the dank alleyway and Liz thought that perhaps she should have noticed the first undertones of panic in Maria's initial frantic greeting.

'What's that supposed to mean?' she returned distractedly, as she absently assessed her environment. Something she should have done on her arrival in the shifty back street.

Everything Liz did now was absent, distant, distracted, without thought.

The acrid smell of burning aluminium filtered through the already muggy air as Liz surveyed the overflowing dumpsters, rotting and mildewing junk and the sizzling and melting forms that had been the objects of her earlier anger.

Somehow Liz had walked straight into the bad part of town. Here there advantages and improvements of the alliance were only just being put into place. Many of the old systems of sanitary and waste disposal were still upheld here. Old fashioned manual labour.

Liz ground her teeth. Those weren't the only things to lay unchanged in 20 years. The crime rate had soared. There was still real danger here. Especially for an important and as easily recognised interplanetary figure such as herself.

Feeling a headache coming on she turned her attention back to her distressed friend.

'Liz, where are you? You've been gone for over four hours. Claudine is distraught and screeching incoherently about how she made you mad and you're never going to come home, and Tony is silent and brooding.'

Maria paused for a moment's reflection, 'Well okay, he's_ more_ silent and brooding than usual ... Liz, talk to me Chica. I've been trying to get hold of you for months but you're never around. You've stopped coming to the Meetings since ... well, since ...'

Liz sighed, 'Go ahead and say it.'

'... Well, since Zan arrived. Honey, you never come to any of the social events anymore. There are rumours in the System about your sudden disappearance from the public eye. People aren't stupid Liz, they know something's wrong, they're guessing at the truth. I have a good idea of it myself but ...' she floundered, disheartened by her friend's silence.

'... Please Liz. We need to talk ... Michael told me that you were meant to come to the Welcoming Ball last week, he said you went missing then too. And turned up hours later covered in water and sand ...'

Liz could hear the hurt in Maria's voice. She had heard about this incident from Michael, she felt as though Liz no longer trusted her.

'... What were you doing by the coast Liz?' Maria finally continued, her voice soft with dejection. 'That is where you were wasn't it? I mean, the water and sand ...'

'Yes Maria. I went to the coast.'

'But why? I don't understand. That's over a two hour drive.'

Liz closed her eyes and admitted to herself that she would finally have to tell someone at least part of the truth. 'Okay Maria, I'll tell you. But not now. Not over the phone.' She hesitated and then with a certain feeling of reckless abandonment plunged head first, from the frying pan and into the fire.

'Meet me at The Coffee House in an hour' she continued. And before Maria could dispute the place or time she glanced back to the direction of where she had left the phone, 'End call' she muttered.

Another soft click was heard.

_Thank you for using _Interplanetary Telecom © Antar_, we appreciate your custom_ said the smooth voice of the female automated call operator.

----

Maria grabbed her oldest and most loved hoody of the cloak room and slipped on her most comfortable pumps. She wore a light, summer, floral cami top under faded denim dungarees. Today she was going for the incognito look. She wouldn't call round the driver or inform security that she was leaving. She would just go.

She walked into the main atrium of the house that her and Michael shared together and turned into the direction he was most likely to be in the late afternoon, relaxing in the Games room. 'Michael, I'm going out, I won't be too long. I have my mobile on me, don't worry about me!'

She turned towards the door and let out a piercing shriek as she came face-to-face with the addressed.

Michael grinned roguishly and slid his arms around her waist. 'And you say you know where I am at all times!' he teased fondly.

Maria pretended to be cross but did a very bad job at it. 'Like I said, I'm going out, you don't need to worry.'

'I don't need to but I will anyway' he replied, kissing her softly on the lips. 'Where did you say you were going?' he asked once they had untangled.

'I didn't'

'So I'll pretend like I don't know you'll be at The Coffee House talking to Liz then shall I?' Michael questioned, doing his very best impression of a serious face.

Maria's mouth hung agape.

'Don't worry Sweetie ...' he assured impishly, 'It'll be our little secret'

Maria huffed at his smug manner and stood in an aloof fashion out of the door and in the direction of The Coffee House ...

----

Please read and review. It's much appreciated and I really benefit from your opinions. x


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